Synopsis

Loneliness, alienation, revenge, first love, violence, dreams, fractured families and broken communities. A twisted plot to exact revenge on a school bully, a teenage alcoholic who dreams of being a singer, a young girl’s developing obsession with a boy from the wrong side of town, a lonely boy’s attempt to collect strangers as friends, and a chilling glimpse into a future where owning seeds and growing food is banned. A unique collection of dark and edgy short stories and character snapshots, all connected in some way to the novels by Chantelle Atkins.

My review

Bird People and other stories is a collection of short stories inspired by characters, novels and future projects of Chantelle Atkins. If you like dark tales this is for you.

This type of collection is a great way to introduce readers to an author’s writing style. I enjoyed and can recommend this short, and at times disturbing but satisfying read.

My favourite stories in the collection are:
• Bird People which features Bill Robinson and his thoughts about flying away, growing wings, escaping from the terrors of climate change, and having “no need for speech then. Just song. Just music. “
• The Collection about a person following and collecting strangers. There is a great twist at the end.
• And another Bill Robinson tale: Night Prowler, about a murder, a night prowler and unspoken decisions.
• The disturbing He Is A Storm.
• Teenage tale of awkward attraction and love of music in The Boy With The Headphones.
• She is… a shocking tale of teenage mean girls and shocking extremes with what a twist! Ohh!
• We Met in Blood. Boredom, and teenage kicks in extremes. (Trigger: self harm) Taking characters from Chantelle Atkins The Mess of Me, (which I loved.)
• Tales From Provence 5 about nature replenishing itself and its vengence towards humans for wrongs done.

Thank you so much to the author Chantelle Atkins for my paperback copy which I won. I thoroughly enjoyed. Every story was memorable. I read this twice! Fast becoming a fan of Chantelle Atkin’s writing.

Do check out all of Chantelle Atkin’s books via her Author blog: https://chantelleatkins.com/